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Trojans gearing up for season under a new Lowman

The Bandys football team held its first full contact practice on Wednesday with a new leader in charge.

Trent Lowman replaces his father and longtime head coach, Randy, as the leader of the Trojans program this fall.

Aside from his father retiring, Trent said not much has changed for his squad from last season.

“We did lose dad as a head coach, but the rest of us have been here together,” he said. “It’s not like there is a whole lot new. You don’t come in and try to fix something that isn’t broke. Bandys is an established program. The worst thing I could do is come in and try to change a lot of things up. It’s been a little different, but not really different at the same time.”

Trent’s goals for the first full contact practice weren’t very different from the past week’s non-contact practices.

“We’re still running the same plays we ran yesterday except it is live and against each other,” Trent said. “We’ve got a couple of base running plays in. We’re really working hard offensively on some stuff. We’ve changed some stuff up in our blocking, passing game and running game. It’s just seeing what we’ve been doing, but doing it in full speed with pads today.”

One concern for Bandys is its numbers.

Thirty-three varsity and 26 junior varsity football players were at Wednesday morning’s practice at Bandys High School.

“We’re down from what we have been at,” Trent said of his team’s number of players. “We’ve only got mid-30s on varsity. We usually have mid-40s. On the JVs, we are in the mid-20s, which is low. Hopefully when school starts we’ll have some guys who don’t know football has already started that can come out late for JVs. We’ve got enough to play. We’ve got some good players that are going both ways. We’ve just got to stay healthy and stay in shape.”

The Trojans enter the 2013 campaign without a returning quarterback after starter Anthony Toscano graduated in June.

Two players are vying to replace him this season, including senior back up Logan Beegle and a North Lincoln transfer in junior Devin Cox.

“It’s a pretty good battle,” Trent said of his two quarterbacks. “Logan has been our back up for two years now. Devin played over there at North Lincoln. Right now, we’re going in with both guys getting reps. That spot is up for grabs. Whoever wants to take it by the reins and lead this football team will win it out.”

Bandys kicks off its season on Friday. Aug. 23 when it travels to St. Stephens.